Monthly Crush: Oi Va Voi

I love Tuesdays: it’s new release day for music stores, of course, and iTunes makes that much more fun than most shops. I like to go digging through the new album listings past all the Coldplays and Eminems, searching for something new and different (both UNKLE Matt & NBC News anchor Brian Williams are iTunes hunters, too, by the way), and that’s how I discovered my most recent obsession: Oi Va Voi. They’re British indie by way of Israel, and I can’t stop listening to their new album Travelling the Face of the Globe, available in the US only digitally @ iTunes.

At first glance, their sound recalls Beirut thanks to the globetrotting ethnic instrumentation — clarinet, trumpet, bouzouki, violins, and accordion pepper the songs — but as soon as Bridgette Amofah starts singing on the album opener “Waiting,” you’re transported somewhere distinctly modern and utterly unique. It’s indie rock! It’s traditional Jewish music! (It’s a floor wax! It’s a dessert topping!) It’s both, and it’s awesome. The songs are great, the melodies memorable, and the arrangements are consistently interesting & unexpected. Hard to describe in just a few words, but I think “Badly Drawn Jew” does them justice. If that intrigues you, check out the song below. Enjoy!

Download: Oi Va Voi, “Every Time” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

If you like what you hear as much as I did, grab Travelling the Face of the Globe at iTunes.